Students responding to Virginia Tech Tragedy

It still amazes me how the internet, specifically within the last few years, gives so many voices the opportunity to be heard – at once. What would take days to compile, happened today – literally – in seconds.

MTV News has already collected several sources online where students have been posting first hand accounts of the shooting. Within minutes, blog entries were up, photos were posted. Citizen/Collective journalism was furiously in effect today.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUZ3sZT8BcA]

What amazes me even more, is how it’s possible that the shootings began at 7AM, and somehow this disturbed individual began shooting again several hours later, in another location on campus. How were the students not sufficiently warned? What happened?

excerpt from report:

Virginia Tech students told MTV News they have learned that the first shooting occurred at a residence hall and involved either the girlfriend of the shooter or her roommate, as well as a Resident Assistant. CNN reports that the campus-wide alert wasn’t made until two hours later, when the second shooting began to occur at Norris Hall. The police claim they thought the dorm incident was an isolated matter.

… I wonder if things would have turned out the same way if some sort of student body emergency-only mass text service had been in effect. Everyone with a cell phone (and text service) would have seen the message, been given instructions, and who knows? Maybe less damage would have been done.

A lot of lessons to learn from this. A lot to think about. Working on covering this has consumed my (and all my coworkers) entire day, and now I just want to go home and watch Little Rascals. Or bury my head underneath my pillow. Maybe I’ll do both. This is definitely not over and tomorrow I am sure is not going to be any easier. I cannot imagine how the students must feel.

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